Book contents
- Wilcox’s Surgical Anatomy of the Heart
- Wilcox’s Surgical Anatomy of the Heart
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Chapter 1 Surgical Approaches to the Heart
- Chapter 2 Development of the Heart
- Chapter 3 Anatomy of the Cardiac Chambers
- Chapter 4 Surgical Anatomy of the Valves of the Heart
- Chapter 5 Surgical Anatomy of the Coronary Circulation
- Chapter 6 Surgical Anatomy of Cardiac Conduction
- Chapter 7 Analytic Description of Congenitally Malformed Hearts
- 8 Lesions with Normal Segmental Connections
- 9 Lesions in Hearts with Abnormal Segmental Connections
- 10 Abnormalities of the Great Vessels
- Chapter 11 Positional Anomalies of the Heart
- Index
- References
Chapter 3 - Anatomy of the Cardiac Chambers
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 April 2024
- Wilcox’s Surgical Anatomy of the Heart
- Wilcox’s Surgical Anatomy of the Heart
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Chapter 1 Surgical Approaches to the Heart
- Chapter 2 Development of the Heart
- Chapter 3 Anatomy of the Cardiac Chambers
- Chapter 4 Surgical Anatomy of the Valves of the Heart
- Chapter 5 Surgical Anatomy of the Coronary Circulation
- Chapter 6 Surgical Anatomy of Cardiac Conduction
- Chapter 7 Analytic Description of Congenitally Malformed Hearts
- 8 Lesions with Normal Segmental Connections
- 9 Lesions in Hearts with Abnormal Segmental Connections
- 10 Abnormalities of the Great Vessels
- Chapter 11 Positional Anomalies of the Heart
- Index
- References
Summary
Regardless of the surgical approach, once having entered the mediastinum, the surgeon will be confronted by the heart enclosed in its pericardial sac. In the strict anatomical sense, this sac has two layers, one fibrous and the other serous. From a practical point of view, the pericardium is essentially the tough fibrous layer, since the serous component forms the lining of the fibrous sac, and is reflected back onto the surface of the heart as the epicardium. It is the fibrous sac, therefore, which encloses the mass of the heart. By virtue of its own attachments to the diaphragm, it helps support the heart within the mediastinum. Free-standing around the atrial chambers and the ventricles, the sac becomes adherent to the adventitial coverings of the great arteries and veins at their entrances to and exits from it, these attachments closing the pericardial cavity.1
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- Wilcox's Surgical Anatomy of the Heart , pp. 41 - 76Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024